Boxberg Power Station

Boxberg Power Station at Boxberg, Saxony is proposed by Vattenfall Europe to have an installed capacity of 675	megawatts and be fired with lignite. Construction began in April 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by 2010. In 2005 it was estimated to cost €600 million but the latest estimate is that it will cost €800 million.

"Investing heavily in fossil fuels when the struggle for climate change is at the top of everyone's agenda may sound like a contradiction in terms. But in today's situation, there are no other realistic alternatives for meeting Germany's energy needs - coal is and will continue to be Germany's dominant source of energy," Vattenfall wrote in its 2006 annual report. It also stated that "not far from the power plant is Nochten, Vattenfall's own open-cast mine, where Vattenfall can cost-efficiently extract 20 million tonnes of lignite per year".

Oct. 1, 2007: Greenpeace occupation at Boxberg plant construction site
Beginning October 1, 2007, 34 activists occupied the construction site of Boxberg Power Station. The activists, 10 of whom remained camped atop cranes on the site for 60 hours, demanded that Vattenfall, the utility sponsoring the plant, stop building coal plants and instead invest in renewable energy. A giant banner hung from a crane read: "Vattenfall: Stop building! Climate protection instead of brown coal!" Six smaller banners reading "Stop CO2" hung from other cranes. 20 volunteers painted "Stop CO2" onto a smokestack under construction.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Europe and coal
 * Global use and production of coal